


The Good Bucket

by owlpockets



Series: Femslash Big Bang 2016 [3]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F, Femslash Big Bang Monthly Challenge, Friendship, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-03 08:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8705065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlpockets/pseuds/owlpockets
Summary: Sera falls in the swamp and zombies touch her.  It's not a good day.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Femslash Big Bang November challenge, "the road." I used the prompt to get myself back on track writing, so this is just a scene out of something larger. Harding doesn't actually make an appearance, but Sera thinks about her a lot. Set sometime after [Three Trout and a Bear](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6972124).

“This road is a nightmare,” Sera whined, wrinkling her nose at the mud creeping up her leggings. It had already consumed her boots. “I don’t mind a bit of dirt normally, but…this is not what I would call normal dirt. Why do we gotta walk this way again?”

Behind her, Dorian mumbled vaguely in agreement, having exhausted his capacity for boisterous complaint hours ago. Cassandra said nothing, but offered a grunt of effort as she freed her heavy boot from the suctioning muck. 

The Inquisitor wasn’t faring much better, her own boots only saved from becoming mired down repeatedly merely by virtue of being considerably smaller than Cassandra’s. “I thought it might lead us to higher ground to make camp, but I admit…I might have been…wrong….” she replied slowly, punctuated by frustrated whacks of her mud-caked leather glove against a nearby tree. “Ugh.”

Sera took several deep breaths to stop herself from exploding when something crawled over her toes _inside_ her boot. She grabbed onto a low-hanging branch and swung onto it for a safe place to sit while she urgently and forcefully evicted whatever it was with averted eyes. Sera dared not look or she might actually scream and bring the armies of undead upon them yet again. She was far too tired for a fight and it looked like now they were going to have to double back too.

“Inquisitor,” Cassandra hesitated, frowning as if she found what she was about to say distasteful but necessary. “May I suggest we turn back for now and request assistance in the morning after we have rested?”

Cadash sighed and pulled her hopeless glove back on. “I think you’re right, Cass. We’re getting nowhere in this.”

Sera didn’t attempt to contain her relieved glee as she hopped down from the branch, eager at the prospect of being able to climb back into Harding’s tent soon. “Dibs on the good bucket!” she called after her, sprinting ahead to avoid any argument from her companions. 

The “good” bucket was the only one that didn’t leak in several directions, and thus had been unofficially reserved for the Inquisitor. Sera didn’t think that was especially fair under the circumstances (the circumstances being a Maker-forsaken zombie swamp that Sera would normally never touch with a ten foot pole), and she suspected Cadash would agree if she wasn’t all tied up in military politics.

Reaching high ground well ahead of the others, Sera paused to pick a few sad looking flowers near the path. The petals were drooping and grayish, but they had optimistically yellow centers and lush green leaves. As a gift they were better than nothing, though Sera hoped they weren’t somehow poisonous. Harding would know, she knew everything about plants and shit, it was disgustingly cute. Maybe she could convince Harding to wash her back. And other parts. All her parts, if she was lucky. 

Sera had been utterly preoccupied with Harding and her full-body freckles over the past several weeks, a near constant and pleasant hum in the back of her mind that put an extra spring in her step. Mostly, the hum didn’t affect her ability to function like a normal person, but fantasizing about her upcoming bath was terribly distracting. Sera trod on a rock, slick with rain, and went down hard on the muddy embankment, sliding right into the water on her ass with a yelp.

The water wasn’t deep, but it was shockingly cold and full of weeds and other things she preferred not to think about. Something grabbed at her ankle and Sera froze in panic. Her bow was behind her on the bank, out of reach even if she stretched. With a well-aimed kick, Sera knocked a hand away from her leg, but an arm was creeping around her waist, trapping the dagger at her hip. 

“Fuck fuck…damn!” Sera screamed and pushed at the arm, a surge of panic rising in her chest, and then suddenly she felt herself lifted clear out of the water by her armpits. 

“What are you doing?” Cassandra snapped, stomping on the rotting arm that had been holding Sera down moments before until the bone made a muffled crunch under her foot. “This is not the time to be daydreaming.”

“My knight in shining armor,” Sera gasped, wiggling her feet until Cassandra set her down on solid ground. She grabbed her bow and fired off two quick shots to take down the second unmentionable creature she didn’t want to think about stumbling toward them.

“Arsenuggets, they’re ruined,” Sera groaned, picking up one of the flowers she had crushed under her ass sliding through the mud.

“What is?” Cassandra moved closer and peered over Sera’s shoulder.

“The flowers I picked for Harding.” Sera sighed miserably and dropped them back on the ground. She was tired, muddy, soaking wet, and now also defeated in her romantic efforts. “They were kind of fugly anyway.”

Cassandra shifted her weight awkwardly and looked off at the foggy horizon. “It was a nice gesture,” she said in gruff consolation. “I’ve noticed how much you…care about her.”

“Yeah, well…” Sera swallowed hard around a lump of frustration rising in her throat. These were such petty things to get upset over. “I wish we could spend more time together, you know?”

“Perhaps you should invite her to visit you at Skyhold.” Cassandra attempted to cross her arms, found she could not over her heavy plate, and settled for holding the pommel of her sword instead.

“Yeah…yeah. Shit. I should do that.” The idea of getting to spend time with Harding at home in her cozy room rather than surrounded by prying ears in a threadbare tent made her toes curl and her insides warm up despite her current state of being.

“I think we would all like to see Harding more often, she is good company. And good at cards.” Cassandra quirked a smile, glancing sidelong at Sera.

A terrible, awful, amazing idea dawned on Sera all at once. “We should have a girls’ night and get totally pissed and throw shit off the roof. It’ll be grand!”

“That is _not_ …” Cassandra instantly started to protest, but stopped thoughtfully for a moment before continuing, “…maybe not the last part.”

“You two look like you’re conspiring about something sinister. What are we talking about?” Dorian asked with a hint of muted amusement as he and Cadash caught up with them.

“Your mum’s gaping hole,” Sera shot back, feeling a bit more like herself. Cassandra may be a stick in the mud most of the time, but she was a good friend where it counted.

“Why do I ever try to talk to you?” Dorian replied, looking to the sky for answers and finding none at the same time Cassandra admonished, “Don’t be crass.”

Sera was trying very hard to suppress her grin and probably failing. “Actually, we’re just planning a girls’ night. You in?”

Dorian narrowed his eyes and frowned in exasperation, which probably had the opposite effect than he intended considering the state of his hair and mustache. “I’m not sure whether to be flattered or offended.”

The Inquisitor was laughing silently beside him. “I’m in,” she managed to choke out before breaking down in a series of short guffaws. “Let’s get moving before we loose the last of the daylight.”

Sera felt her spirits lift as they started down the road toward camp together. “I’ve always wanted to see Lady Josie tits out drunk, you gotta invite her too!” 

“Honestly? Me too,” Cadash agreed wistfully.


End file.
